How Modern is Your Collaboration Strategy?

Since you’re reading a collaboration blog, you must be using collaboration in some way, shape or form in your organization. Even if you came here by accident you probably are using collaboration.

Conferencing, Collaboration and now Unified Communications technology is the part of our day-to-day business life. Hence the question…

Are you getting the most out of your collaboration technology stack?

As Canada’s leading independent collaboration technology provider we know that many of our customers only make use of the most basic features available to them within the various technologies, so we created a list of the things your collaboration technology really should be taking care of!

Number 1: Mobile Apps

First off, your collaboration technology should have a mobile application.

If you don’t believe me believe this: a recent study concluded that 68% of conference calls have at least one mobile attendee.

Of the 27 calls I hosted in the last month, 9 of those were hosted from my mobile device, and I am not even out in the field that much anymore!

So what does a mobile app give me?

One click call access: I can click on my app and launch a conference call (or join one for that matter) and launch my call without dialing a single number or entering a passcode.

Call control: I can see who is on my call for security reasons and even mute lines that are causing feedback, same as when I am at my PC.

See Documents and screen share: Sure, my mobile screen isn’t as big as my desktop monitor, but I can see what I need to in a meeting.

Number 2: Video Integration

We Facetime with our loved ones (I Facetime with my 10 year old son and my 65 year old father) because it is more personal…more like being there.

Then at work, we connect with people we may have never met in person and your webcam is off? No wonder they can get so heated and so confusing.

In the past, for cost reasons, not all employees were enabled with video chat applications.

With the advent of the G-Suite from Google, Skype for Business and the add-ons available for every telephone conferencing application on the market, you don’t need a different application to add video to your weekly telephone conference.

You are already video capable for a flat rate or sometimes no cost at all.

When you smile they see it and so do you: You know that point at the start of a conference call when someone says a lame joke or talks about their weekend and everyone sort of says, “cool”?

With video, you can see their reactions and have a better conversation overall.

But more importantly: You can show your attendees that you are paying attention.

You can see how your attendees are reacting to what you are saying, and when having a difficult conversion you can look them in the eye.

As someone who manages a 10 person team of sales reps from Toronto to Vancouver and many locations in between, having people on video is key to ensure everyone understands my message and I can understand where they are coming from.

Number 3: UC Integration

Whether you are a Microsoft Skype for Business shop, or a Google Hangouts shop or even a CISCO shop, if your collaboration technology doesn’t integrate fully, you’re doing it wrong.

Full UC integration is an important part of collaboration in an organization. You need your people and your technology fully working together to run smoothly.

You’re overpaying: With no integration, your user base makes the decision to either use the tools the company has invested in, or use another tool that makes it easier for their external participant to join.

Every time they choose an outsourced platform you pay more than you should.

Adoption suffers: It all feels too complicated to users and as such they simply gravitate to what they want to use or what is easier to use rather than what they should use.

Make your technology at work as easy to adopt as possible, because changing the behavior of employees is much more difficult than finding a solution that works and integrates.